Pickup trucks typically include a latching tailgate that swings between an upright closed/latched position to a horizontal open position to selectively provide access to the truck box. Known latch arrangements may include strikers that are mounted to the vehicle structure, and extend inwardly from the vertically extending rear edges of the sidewalls of the truck bed. The strikers engage latches in the tailgate when the tailgate is in a closed position to thereby retain the tailgate in the closed position. A handle on the tailgate can be pulled to an open position to thereby unlatch the tailgate, permitting the tailgate to be pulled open manually by a user.